Man passes ‘dud’ cheques for cars

Press, 24 January 1986, Page 1

Man passes ‘dud’ cheques for cars

A suave confidence trickster has used dud cheques to buy vehicles valued at more than $BO,OOO, the Christchurch police said yesterday. The man, described as confident, and aged in the mid to late 30s, buys

vehicles in the middle and upper price range. He uses a Papanui branch Westpac cheque book which was stolen from a car last year. Detective Paul Hunter, who heads the investigation, said that the police

believed more forms were left in the cheque book. Persons buying and selling cars were urged to beware of the man, who had bought and sold vehicles in Dunedin, Ashburton, Christchurch, and Petone.

He pretends to be a motor vehicle dealer and, in each case, has used a different company name. The man did not give his own name.

Detective Hunter said that the cheques presented by the man were

not personalised. The name of a false company had been typed in. The man obtained car ownership papers from vendors, but did not change the name on them. He then sold the car as

quickly as possible, for cash. He pretended to buyers that he was the person whose name was on the ownership papers.

Detective Hunter said that long legal disputes over the ownership of the vehicles were likely to result from the ruse.

The man usually sold the vehicles to dealers or persons advertising to buy cars. He would not accept cheques, unless they had been cleared at a bank.

Detective Hunter urged sellers to beware persons with non-personalised cheques. They should ask for identification such as a photograph. The licence plate number of the buyer should be noted also, and sellers should be reluctant to part with car ownership papers until a cheque was cleared.

“A genuine buyer is not going to be concerned about that,” said Detective Hunter.

The police say that the confidence man likes to put buyers under pressure. For example, he will try to arrive at the home of a seller just before the person has said that they must go out. In addition, he does not haggle much about price. The police were following a positive line of inquiry, Detective Hunter said. The man is described as European, about 178 cm to 180 cm tall, of stocky build, clean shaven, with sandy hair, receding slightly at the forehead.

The man has so far “bought” a Holden Commodore in Christchurch for $16,000, and a Honda Accord for $9500. In Dunedin, he handed over a $12,500 cheque for a Mitsubishi Tredia and $12,600 for a caravan. He wrote out a cheque for $15,500 for a Ford Falcon in Ashburton and a $14,000 cheque for a Nissan Silvia at Petone. . The man has defrauded private buyers and sellers as well as dealers.